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Post by Richard on Feb 24, 2008 16:01:52 GMT -5
In response to Martha's post in another thread I've decided to start a seperate thread -- a discussion -- about anything to do with Judy Garland. As we all know, Miss Garland has showcased her talent in the various mediums of entertainment ranging from vaudeville to motion pictures to radio to television, and even on the world stage.
My contribution to start off with is a BBC documentary produced in 1972 called "Judy: Impressions of Garland", which I watched a few weeks ago when it aired on TCM. It features interviews from many people like her I'LL GO ON SINGING co-star Dirk Bogarde, her daughter with famed director Vincente Minnelli, Liza. And among others we also have Mickey Rooney, Peter Lawford, producer/songwriter Arthur Freed, and a brief appearance by her late and last husband Mickey Deans.
I liked the documentary. It offered face-to-face accounts -- something I'm always fond of -- from people who either knew or worked with Judy at one time or another. They also try to offer their own understandings as to the reason why she was such "a mess" in the final years of her life, and who was, in the end, beaten down by it.
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Post by martha on Feb 25, 2008 12:27:45 GMT -5
This particular documentary, Richard, generates a range of animated, well, emotions from Garland fans. I look at it all as a time capsule of commentary.. precious because the interviews were done very close in time to judy's death .. the documentary originally aired in 1971 or 1972 .. judy died in 1969 ... simple math. people were still sifting through their immediate and strong emotions related to .. missing her .. still being angry with her (e.g. dirk bogarde) ... and some interviewees being very forthcoming then (i have since learned) growing more and more angered by the interviewers when they realized the documentary team had a bit of the 'poor judy' agenda going .. including liza minnelli [who succeeded in having her portions of the documentary excised for a time she was so angered by the piece] and dot ponedel, judy's make up person and close to her for decades. a big historical note: the documentary just glosses over a huge part of the garland performance legacy .. her concert years between 1951 through the end of her life.
hardly balanced .. but a kind of time capsule, this 1972 documentary.
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Post by martha on Feb 25, 2008 12:51:58 GMT -5
i thought i'd post some words by our gal, kate, on her colleague and friend, ms. garland, in kate's memoir ME. and use kate as a jumping off point for a few points of my own .. from Kate's reflections on Ethel Barrymore's 70th birthday party at George Cukor's home .. this excerpt evokes more the gestalt .. and the time. judy would have been, oh,28 in this occasion, at this time married to vincente minnelli. kate was 15 years older than judy. p. 174. "I was there at dinner once: dessert -- a beautiful cake came in -- seventy candles. Judy Garland quietly stood, and in her own particular hushed and heartbreaking voice she sang: Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, dear Ethel, Happy ..
It was Ethel Barrymore's seventieth birthday. We all wept with joy and feeling and whatever it was. It was romantic. And all the shine. And that Selznick-Brice-Judy-Spencer-Peck-Walpole-Maughm atmosphere." in another section of ME, Kate provided reflections on Judy's genius for performing and struggles with simply living. And on the studio system. p. 222. She is talking about the time period 1949-1950 .. Just before Judy was released from her MGM contract .. "I went and talked with Judy. I certainly couldn't have done anything. If you are going to help anybody who is in trouble, this is not a two-hour-a-day job. It is a twenty-four-hour-a-day-job. You won't do anything else if you decide that you are going to resurrect and rearrange a human being."
"I think Judy was an enormously complicated creature. By the time all this began to catch up with her, she was twenty-odd years old or thirty. By that time she had worked hard. She had lived a lifetime. She was spent. In a way, for tormented creatures work is the easiest thing that they do. It's the living that is difficult.... I don't think that work ever really destroyed anybody. I think that lack of work destroys them a hell of a lot more. And bad habits cripple you." For my money, Kate really captures several things about Judy that animate my fandom, personally. 1st the "particular hushed and heartbreaking voice" and 2nd the magic of performance .. where her genius lay. Some people choose to focus on the lives of stars like Garland .. confusions or money troubles or whatever tickles their fancy. I've had email discussions with one (to me creepy) fan who likes to play a bootleg recording of one of Judy's not so great concert performances. This 'fan' plays this recording when she, in her own words, "wants a good cry". that fan claims that this troubled performance from the late 1960s [and mind you, judy had some lovely performances within weeks of her death in june 1969 so this fan was carefully choosing her "listening pleasure"] demonstrated to her how judy persevered. what is that about? Garland has fans like that .. who dwell on the troubles. i believe that this reflects more about the 'fans' than it does about garland. a woman who made magic in performance. and kate got that about her ...
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Post by Shaun on Feb 25, 2008 13:02:09 GMT -5
I saw this documentary recently too. It was wonderful to hear from people who knew Judy well. Martha, am I correct in thinking many Judy Garland fans detest Dirk Bogarde? I was reading on a Garland message board a while ago and they trashed the man. The Garland movie I've seen most recently is THE HARVEY GIRLS. I thought Judy and Angela Lansbury performed well but none of the musical numbers, save "On the Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe", were very memorable. It needed more Judy solo numbers. I found the romance between Judy's character and the male lead very dull. However, the movie was a treat for the eyes. And who can forget Judy charging into the saloon across the street, pistols in hand, to get her restaurant's meat back?
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Post by martha on Feb 25, 2008 13:11:55 GMT -5
I saw this documentary recently too. It was wonderful to hear from people who knew Judy well. Martha, am I correct in thinking many Judy Garland fans detest Dirk Bogarde? I was reading on a Garland message board a while ago and they trashed the man. no i wouldn't say that its true that most garland fans detest bogarde .. at all. i think people know that they were close friends for the last 10 years or so of her life, and that toward the end of her life she probably was a demanding friend .. the kind of energy that dirk was sharing on that documentary. garland fans are less than patient with the medical diagnoses he blithely offers in 1971-1972 (whatever words he used) ... i'm on several garland discussion boards ... i've seen these threads that develop around this particular documentary when the subject comes up . re bogarde. .... we've learned a lot about her and about the times and simply time has passed and its possible to have more perspective on her career now (my humble opinion) .. and in her words about harold arlen in patter during the april 23, 1961 carnegie hall concert .. i say of garland 'there is no better'. my gosh, especially in live performance. from all i've heard and from people i have talked to who saw her .. some many many times ...
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Post by Tracy Lord on Feb 25, 2008 14:12:28 GMT -5
I loooove Judy!
Anyway I didn't like the Impressions of Judy bio, the only great thing about it was hearing Liza say 'i've got rainbows coming out of my ass'
Now the PBS doc is one I would reccommend. That one is the best and is award winning.
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Post by martha on Feb 25, 2008 14:28:33 GMT -5
ah, tracylord .. you're referring to the AMERICAN MASTERS offering on Judy .. entitled "By Myself" .. yes, won some emmys. At least one emmy. and John Fricke, who full disclosure is a friend, but more more important has written some beautiful books about Garland and offers commentary on a number of DVD releases of her films ... was one of the producers. ... i would also recommend this piece.
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Post by Tracy Lord on Feb 25, 2008 14:39:04 GMT -5
John Fricke is really cool. I still need to buy some of his books but they are all oop so it's hard to find them. I saw his intros on the Judy Garland Signature Collection dvd set and listened to his WOZ commentary on the 2 disc set, it's nice that there is a Judy biographer you can trust.
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Post by Richard on Feb 25, 2008 19:46:35 GMT -5
Thank you, Martha, for your reply. It's really too bad about the 'poor Judy' agenda -- I never would've guessed it. And I do remember Dorothy Ponedel really well -- from the documentary -- when she put down, I believe, what was being said in books and magazines of the day about Judy's "pill-popping" days, so to speak. I believe they were called in a more modern term, downers. For those interested, you can read a brief Ponedel bio at the following link. www.imdb.com/name/nm0690396/
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Post by Richard on Feb 25, 2008 19:56:25 GMT -5
Oh, and you know what was really funny about that bathroom story, tracylord? After Judy enters the bathroom stall, and when the drunk woman knocks on the door, what was it Judy says?
"Yes?"
Just imagine Judy Garland sitting on the toilet saying that. Seriously, it had me in stitches.
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Post by Tracy Lord on Feb 25, 2008 21:32:34 GMT -5
I know! That lady was crazy! Well crazy and drunk, she would have gotten on my nerves so bad. I love that Judy said that without missing a beat though! She was seriously the funniest person ever.
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Post by martha on Feb 26, 2008 0:17:42 GMT -5
which reminds me of a quote from lucille ball about judy. [in fricke's ART & ANECDOTE, page 290]
"People always expect me to be funny. I was never funny; the writers were funny! Do you know who was really funny? Judy Garland. Judy Garland was naturally funny .... the funniest lady in Hollywood. She made me look like a mortician."
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Post by Tracy Lord on Feb 26, 2008 16:59:55 GMT -5
Yep, I have read that. I think it such a compliment for Lucille Ball of all people to say that about Judy.
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Post by Richard on Mar 1, 2008 16:14:24 GMT -5
A lot of Judy Garland videos pop up on Youtube, especially from her television show -- usually singing -- but this video is quite an exception. youtube.com/watch?v=x6bUVVWYu8c
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Post by martha on Mar 1, 2008 18:52:44 GMT -5
that appearance on 'what's my line' is a rare gem and just recently appeared on youtube. view it (and save it if you're interested) while you can. garland content appears and is taken down with regularity. this appearance was during the last year of the first era of this american game show (1950-1967) .. it had a second life with a different host or hosts that began soon after.
judy was in new york at the time of this 1967 appearance as the 'what's my line' mystery guest (a regular segment) for liza's first marriage, i believe. its a treat. and moreover, there apparently was quite the backstage drama as judy was a bit late in arriving at the studio, someone else was going to go in her place .. .and judy waltzed on to the stage .. to get her chalk and 'sign in' .. with seconds to spare.
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